Agyness Deyn's NYFW Comeback as a Fashion Designer

Having a second act has become pretty standard for fashion models. After leaving the modeling industry a few years ago, the British-born Agyness Deyn went on to pursue an acting career, and now this week she's debuting her third act as a clothing designer. Together with her sister Emily and friend Tracy Moore, she's launched Title/A—a collection of perfectly-tailored suits, feminine dresses, and classic outerwear pieces. We met with Deyn, who's been showing the collection out of The Nomad Hotel, to learn more about her new venture.

More From Harper's BAZAAR

Why did you decide to start a clothing line?

I love wearing men's clothes and I love clothes in general. I've worked in the industry for so long and I was just craving certain things. I was trying to find vintage men's suits and a lot of them are too big and you have to tailor them and thought, I want to make men's suits that don't have the darts in them or are boxy, but for women that fit us in the arms and have room for our butts, you know? So that's what I wanted to do.

Who is the Title/A girl?

It's the girl that runs around town in her suit but then she wants to go out with her husband or boyfriend and she wants to be a little sexy. She's not a boy all the time, you know? So, we wanted to have that contrast between masculine and feminine because that's the reality of a strong woman. It was really interesting because we got model Stella Maxwell who's really punk to come over the other day and she put on the clothes and it just fit in with her style—and her punk hair. Some other girls have tried it with different style and it still suits them. So, it was an interesting discovery that it kind of fits into everyone's wardrobe—it's really neat.

What was the design process like?

We're very specific and focused in what we like, and it started from wanting to base it around suits for a woman and have it be the ease of a suit so someone could wear it every day. It's not for business, so we took that ease and fluidity and built it out from there, taking really nice Japanese cotton and clean lines and little details that you can wear all together. Like the mixture of textures and the way things flow and feel.

Who were some of your inspirations for the collection?

Patti Smith, Fran Leibowitz, and there's a lot of these really amazing, fascinating personalities in these females that are mostly writers I guess, a few muscians, and there's something so ungraspable but perfect. They're complete and they're so at ease with their style. It's not even about their style for them, it's just what they naturally gravitate toward and it's that relaxed viewpoint toward your fashion or style that we prize and think is really important. We want to imbue that through our collection.

Since the collection heavily focuses on menswear, would you do a menswear collection too?

I would, yeah, definitely. When you see a man with impeccable style, it's so stimulating to me and I want to just wear the whole outfit. I wear my husband's clothes, luckily we're the same size, and I just love the silhouettes. It's funny because we got emails from some of our close friends and one of the guys was like, "You need to get me the smoking jacket from the collection."

How did you come up with the name of the brand?

We wanted a name that was simple and Title A is miss, misses and mister. Nowadays it becomes not as important anymore whether you're a miss or a misses—it's more who you are as in "Title A". The title is "I'm a woman", "I'm a thinker." You know? So it was going a little feminist, like a statement. The slash also acts like a little tenthouse so it's an A within an A.

You took a break from modeling for a while, is this your main focus?

Definitely, the last four years I've been concentrating on different things, this being one of the things that I was working on, which has been so great. We just get so excited. There's ups and downs but you just have that persistence which has been great. I've been acting as well—I did a movie last summer that's coming out in a few months called "Electricity" and I'm about to start a movie called "Sunset Song" with Terrence Davis which is great because I really love to work and it allows me to. This is something that I can really do every day. We have an office, we go to work every day; we're producing, exploring things and I love that creativity and doing it with two of your really good friends is really fun. And it evolves and it changes and we're all growing and learning with it because we're all wearing every hat, we're all doing everything that goes into running a business at the moment.

Do you miss walking in fashion week?

I miss walking in shows, that was such an experience— the fast pace and the excitement of it, you're on the runway and then you're off. I was even talking to Louis, my agent, last night and just staying I remember doing those shows and being so blown away by the spectacle of it. I really loved the behind the scenes and being with all the girls. You form such bonds with the other models and you're travelling with them so much—they become your family.

Who have been some of your favorite designers to work with?

The Proenza boys, Zac Posen, Anna Sui, and all those people I've walked for when I first started. I've been lucky to have the loyalty of amazing designers who booked me over and over—and they look after you, because you start when you're really young. It's been 10 years since I started.